Wow, check it out: http://www.spike.com/blog/top-nine-video-game/89661

Spike.com: The Top Eight Video Game Bugs That Made the Game Better

The #8 “video game bug that made the game better” on that page is the Grand Theft Auto 4 swingset glitch that I posted about last August, along with a link to my post about it (“In GTA4, there’s a location where you can leave a car and it’ll promptly explode…”). The next Monday (11/23), I received 746 hits for that page alone. Damn!

And…to give you some context, this is the graph of that page’s activity:

Yeah, just a couple more hits than usual.

Of course, the next day, it went down to its normal number of views. Still pretty cool, though. =)

Link to review

I was slightly skeptical on beginning Grand Theft Auto’s The Ballad Of Gay Tony for one main reason.

Whilst GTA 4’s main campaign was great, what does the final chapter of the GTA 4 episode installment have in store? Something to guarantee me coming back to it? Or the same old boring day to day grind GTA ever so easily portrayed after the honeymoon period left?

There’s an article over on the Guardian website about ‘your most immoral gaming moments’. If you can’t be arsed to read it, the gist is that you’re fucked up in the head if you are intentionally evil when playing computer games.

Well if that’s so, then I must be more fucked up than most.

Right now I am playing Grand Theft Auto 4. I am not completing the missions – instead I am just killing people. Without remorse, and in the most explosive way possible.

In the past 15 minutes I killed them by:

• putting a bomb under a limousine to kill the occupants. This set off a chain reaction of exploding cars. Number of dead: about 10.
• Hopping over the wall of the United Nations building and assassinating a ‘diplomat’ in a suit. Number of dead: 1 diplomat, 20+ police officers.
• Driving at full speed in a Hummer into the back of a civilian’s car in the hope the force of the collision will rupture their fuel tank and set them and their car on fire.
• Parking a bus in the centre of Times Square and going postal on everyone. The bus is a damn good shield. Number of dead: 30+
• Pushing people into the path of subway trains.
• Going into Little Italy, firing my pistol at a passing car, and spending 15 minutes involved in a massive gang war with the mafia and the police.
• Breaking into a police compound to assassinate as many police officers as possible.

Sounds fucked up, no? Quite the opposite, in fact.

In the real world I don’t like violence. The last person I ‘punched’ (well, slapped) was my younger brother back when we were teenagers, and I wouldn’t even think of hitting someone unless they were hitting me first. I just don’t like violence in the real world.

I am also intelligent enough to know that there is a massive difference between violence in a computer game and violence in real life. I also know that there is a difference between violence on TV and films and violence in real life. Computer game violence is completely fictional and created by copious amounts of 1s and 0s by an electronic device. Killing someone in a computer game has zero repercussions on your real world life.

But people do indeed kill after playing a particularly violent computer game, or watching a particularly violent film. It wasn’t the computer game which made them kill – they were always going to kill regardless. Five years ago a British teenager was murdered by someone ‘obsessed’ with the game Manhunt, and the game was cited as the reason why. The killer didn’t need the game to kill – he was always going to kill. Maybe if it wasn’t for the game then he wouldn’t have killed his victim, but someone with the mindset to actually murder someone for little or no reason would always kill regardless of some game.

Yes, I’m going to get Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. And yes, I’m going to shoot the civilians at the airport. Why? Because I can, and because I know the difference between killing in a computer game and killing in the real world. Only a moron thinks the two are the same.

I downloaded the balled of gay tony off xbox live the day after it came out hoping it would re-kindle the amount of time I played GTA 4, and it did just that.

The storyline was well done. It inter twined with the other expansion pack and the first GTA 4 which was cool. The new characters are also cool especialy Yusuf Amir.

There were some new cars, a lot of new weapons, and some new helicopters. One thing this expansion pack included was a parachute. The parachute will give endless hours of fun, there are even side missions for it.

Over all this was a good expansion pack and well worth the 1600 Microsoft points.

Rating: 9.5 Out of 10

Grand Theft Auto IV returns with some brand new episodic content, the 2nd episode to be precise, and it is The Ballad of Gay Tony. This brings what you expect from GTA 4 and even more. The Lost and Damned was a great expansion to the series and even though it was 20 dollars, I believe you got your moneys worth. Well here we are with Ballad of Gay Tony and it is also 20 dollars. The first thing will be that it best for you if you are a story person to beat the actual game first and Lost and Damned before downloading the DLC, but if you don’t care then get it. The game has 26 main missions that will take you roughly 11 gameplay hours to complete.

You play as the business partner of Tony’s named Luis Lopez, your new protagonist. This game has a very lengthy storyline with loads of varied missions that never get old. There are new weapons, vehicles, music, games, and the ability to now replay the missions once you beat the game. You can now go golfing or if you are more adventurous, sky diving. This is definitely worth the 20 dollars and has a lot more content than some fully priced games. However, the graphics are starting to show its age and although they added some new multiplayer aspects, there isn’t much really new on that side. Overall though, this is what you have come to expect from the GTA series and I have to say that I still stick with the fact that all games should have DLC like this.

Pros:

+ Luis Lopez is a great protagonist

+ Lengthy storyline with loads of varied missions

+ New vehicles and weapons freshen up the familiar gameplay

+ Option to replay missions for leaderboard high scores once you beat the game

+ More new content than many full-priced games

Cons:

- Visuals are starting to show their age

- Little in the way of new multiplayer content

Extras:

# Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony Cheat Codes

# Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony Achievements

# Grand Theft Auto IV Review

# Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned Review

Chirantan Patnaik and I have one thing in common. Patnaik really enjoys Grand Theft Auto 4 and so do I. What separates him from me is that he currently holds the Guinness World Record for longest nonstop video gaming after playing GTA 4 for 40 straight hours. Of course, he was permitted to take periodic ten-minute breaks every hour but being a devoted gamer, he only chose to take four breaks during the marathon run. Citing his rigorous pre-marathon training of yoga, running, and running, he stated that it “wasn’t as exhaustive as one might feel.” How did he maintain his focus during the time? “Eating dates.” So what are his plans for the future now? “I plan to attempt to break my own record in order to reach 48 hours.”

Well, there you have it. The end of the world and all that is innocent in life. No wonder we’re in a global. recession.  Source

The following is a blog on a multiplayer Free Mode session with two friends, whom I will be calling James Britt and Mateo. I’ll be chronicling the game’s events, which will usually involve chases, betrayals, and other wonderful events. Let’s get started.

We jump in with me riding shotgun with Mateo in a red Banshee with a single black stripe down the middle. James Britt is lurking somewhere across the island, and he just died in a motorcycle accident. We just picked up some health, and we’re getting ready to start a chase, running over James Britt in the process. We spot a cop car and open fire, killing the passenger. The chase begins. James Britt dies twice in succession. Make that thrice. Up to 4 stars now, as I use my Desert Eagle to kill three more cop car drivers. Our Banshee is nearing the end of its life, and SWAT has just arrived. The car’s engine fails, and I run into James Britt’s waiting car, leaving Mateo behind. Still got 4 stars.

James Britt blindsides a car, sending our car spinning out, but somehow, we’ve escaped the cops. I then spot a cop car and open fire. One star. As we’re driving we notice Mateo has stolen a SWAT truck and still has his 4 stars. We plow through some traffic and gun the Turismo’s engine, hitting a few obstacles on the way. We take an unnecessary turn down a side street and continue on. We spot yet another cop car, which I choose to shoot at, gaining me 3 stars. James Britt drives away, remarking about the car’s dirtiness. Mateo still has his 4 star wanted level, and is coming to pick me up.

As Mateo drives toward us, he loses his wanted level, and James Britt drives away anyway. We lose our wanted level, and James Britt decides to chase after Mateo. We get into a head on collision with him, and the cops are after us. We manage to take out a few before our car gets set on fire, with James Britt bailing out as I explode with the car.

Fast forward a few more minutes, and Mateo and I are in a Sultan RS. James Britt comes crashing into us out of nowhere with a helicopter. He tries it again, crashes, and watches us speed away. We head towards no destination in particular, getting ready for an on foot showdown with the police. Unfortunately, our car catches fire, and we count down to when we plan to get out. As the count reaches 0, we bail out with the car exploding at the worst time possible. We both die. Upon respawning, we hijack a cop car and head towards the island of dreams, which is really a boat filled with cardboard boxes floating in the middle of the water. It can be reached with either a cop car or a fast car. We barely miss it with our cop car, landing in the water. We proceed to exit the car, climb onto the island, then get RPGed by James Britt. This ends up killing him and me, with me appearing about 100 feet away from the island and falling to my death.

I return to the island with an Infernus and speed towards the jump that will take me to the island of dreams. I easily make it, but I end up going too far and driving into the ocean. The cops that were chasing us before end up stuck on the shore. There are literally about 20 cops stuck there. Mateo swims past them and grabs a helicopter while I start shooting the congregation of officers. This goes on until I run of pistol ammo, and at this time, I tell Mateo to get a new helicopter, since he just crashed his first one. He crashes this one as well, and goes back yet again. All of a sudden, I see a huge explosion, and wouldn’t you know it, it kills Mateo.

At this point, I’m getting bored of the island of dreams, so I swim over to the shore and pick up a helicopter. As I was typing this, a SWAT officer came up to me and pulled me out of the helicopter. He then shot me to death. After I respawn, I pick up a new helicopter with Mateo, fly it up, then jump out into the ocean. Mateo lands somewhere far away.

And that’s it! I know it seems like a pretty short story, but it’s pretty hard to play and write at the same time. Hopefully you all enjoyed it, and I’ll have something different next week. Thanks for reading!

If you couldn’t tell by the alliterating title, I’m going to be starting up events on Fridays, such as playthroughs, or focusing on a certain aspect of a game. Tonight, the featured game will be Grand Theft Auto IV, and I’ll reveal what exactly will be going on later tonight. It will definitely be involving chases, just to give you an idea of what to expect.

The more we see of these Liberty City episodes, the more impatient we get for the next installment.  The Ballad of Big Gay Tony will drop onto Xbox Live Marketplace on October 29th.  And there will also be a disc version that will include Lost and Damned available at retail stores.

Episodes From Liberty City are exclusive to Xbox 360.

Thanks to Kotaku for the video

]]> http://evolveent.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/microsoft-tags-5-platinum-hits/ Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:30:35 +0000 evolveteam http://evolveent.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/microsoft-tags-5-platinum-hits/

Now gamers have a variety of titles to toy with until Modern Warfare 2 arrives in stores. Grand Theft Auto 4, Left 4 Dead, Street Fighter IV, Saints Row 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed have all been added to the 360 Platinum hits lineup. These five games will start as low as $19.99 and up, so there’s no reason to play yourself.

Hace una semana les presentamos el primer tráiler de GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony, y hoy les traemos estos datos que ha publicado la revista Xbox 360 World refiriéndose al episodio descargable y a sus novedades:

• Este nuevo capítulo traerá 20 misiones nuevas. Cada misión nos evaluará y otorgará una puntuación dependiendo de cómo lo hayamos hecho.

• Podremos buscar misiones en cada uno de los tres clubes que dirigirá “Gay” Tony Price (los clubes son Bahama Mamas, Hercules y Maisonette 9).

• El campo de golf de Algonquin es accesible y habrá un minijuego de golf. Además, según se ha comentado, habrá alguna persecución a lo largo del juego en la que conduciremos en el típico carrito de golf.

• Habrá nuevas armas, entre las que destaca la P-90

• Habrá nuevos vehículos, como el carrito de golf anteriormente citado, una tanqueta de los SWAT o un coche de lujo descapotable llamado Super Drop Diamond, que está basado en un modelo de Bentley.

• El HUD se modificará ligeramente (como ya ocurrió en GTA IV: The Lost and Dammned) para adaptarse al nuevo personaje y los ambientes por los que se mueve. En éste caso, los colores que predominarán serán tonalidades de rosa y violeta.

• El juego volverá un poco a los orígenes, ya que se ha tendido a exagerar la acción. Por ejemplo, una de las misiones será robar un vagón de tren haciendo uso de un helicóptero para entregárselo a un personaje muy rico, mientras que en otra deberemos desactivar una bomba de los bajos de un coche que ha sido colocado por una ex-novia.

This blog is supported by http://www.maxatplay.com/

Hello ladies and gentleman!

I am trying hard to stay awake while playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance. This game is supposed to be fun with a group of friends, but we’re all sitting here dosing off in the middle of game playing. I know this isn’t hardcore gaming, sleeping through actual gameplay, but I’m exhausted. I was up all night playing Fallout 3. I share the same problem in Fallout 3 as I do with GTA4. Every time, I get into a mission I get side tracked in doing some random act. Fallout doesn’t offer as many side missions as GTA4 but there is enough there to make it worth while. Well since this is a game party, and Fallout 3 is a single player game, I will list the games we will be playing tonight.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Rockband

Left4Dead

Halo 3

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is supposed to be on this list but I forgot it at home…blah

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